Various techniques for producing images exist. For example, an imaging system may use an image engine having an array of individually addressable pixels, such as reflective and deflectable micromirrors, reflective and movable membranes (e.g. IMOD), liquid-crystal cells (LCDs), liquid-crystal-on-silicon cells (LCOS), or emissive cells (e.g. plasma cells). The imaging systems further may incorporate a passive display screen or an active display screen.
These imaging systems may cause objectionable artifacts in produced images. One of the leading artifacts in these imaging systems, especially in sequential color imaging systems, is color separation artifact, which is also called color breakup. The color separation artifact is perceived as multiple color images during pursuit and saccadic eye movements. This artifact is most prevalent in a scene containing high contrast spatial transitions such as scrolling white text on a black background.
Moreover, different imaging systems may have different color spaces or different combinations of primary colors for producing color images. These color spaces and combinations of primary colors may not be the same as the color space or the combination of primary colors of the image source. For example, an image to be projected using a specific imaging system may use red, green, and blue primary colors; whereas the specific imaging system uses an array of pixels with each pixel being composed of red, green, blue, and a fourth color, such as yellow. It is clear that displaying the image with the pixels having a different color combination than that of the input image without proper color processing will cause inferior images.